


Repeat, Repeat the Words

by pearl_o



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:18:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearl_o/pseuds/pearl_o
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik could have made different choices. He would have, if he had known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repeat, Repeat the Words

If Erik had realized that sex with a telepath would engender a lifetime commitment, his life would have turned out quite differently.

There were any number of moments when things could have gone differently. Erik believes in free will beyond anything else; our lives are shaped by the choices we make, rather than any divine or overriding purposes. Erik could have made different choices. He would have, if he had known.

But he did not. Instead he stayed, he kissed Charles's lips and warmed his bed, and when it was done, it felt like a vow had been made without either of them saying a word, for they knew each other. No one had ever known Erik before, not really; it was uncomfortable and thrilling at the same time. Charles made him want things he had never bothered to think of wanting before.

Charles would not go with him, and Erik couldn't stay, but even alone, so far away, even with his helmet in place, there was a part of Charles still inside Erik's head.

* * *

There is a theory in science that there are any number of alternate universes, branching off from every possible event, that all of these possible worlds exist somewhere out there. A world where their principles aligned; a world where they had never met.

In truth, he does not think of Charles that often. Certainly no more often than Charles thinks of his legs. The things we lose shape who we become. Perhaps not stronger, but not weaker, either: different. The mind and body adapt, find new pathways and strategies in order to do the things that need to be done.

* * *

Raven cries every night, without fail. She is private about it, discreet, but Erik can hear her nonetheless, can see the signs of it in her eyes every morning.

Except then one night, she doesn't. The next morning, when he looks at her, he sees an expression on her face that was never there before - something proud and defiant and complex, a kind of bone-deep strength. He realizes, with sudden clarity, that Raven has grown up.

He is not alone in his mission, in his goals, not at all. He counts himself lucky to have such an intelligent, capable, beautiful woman as his companion through this life.

* * *

Charles had told Erik he knew everything about him, and it was true. True, but incomplete, because it left out the most important things, the ones that were truly hard to bear.

That Erik, for all the solitude and privacy he had clung to through his life, didn't mind Charles knowing.

That Charles loved him no less for any of it, and perhaps even loved him more for his faults and sins.

That he - and oh, this was most difficult of all - he would know everything about Charles as well.

* * *

"Old friend," Charles says, and he gestures to the chessboard, ready in front of him.

Erik smiles, removing his hat as he sits down.

Their fingers brush across the pieces. Neither one of them speaks as they play.


End file.
